In the wake of recent whistleblower allegations, the aviation industry is once again under a microscope, particularly the production practices of Boeing and its suppliers. Santiago Paredes, a former quality manager at Spirit AeroSystems, has broken the silence, revealing his experiences with manufacturing defects in the Boeing 737 Max fuselages, signaling persistent safety issues within Boeing’s production network.
Paredes, who performed final inspections on 737 fuselages at the Spirit AeroSystems factory in Wichita, Kansas, claimed that defects were a daily occurrence, and he was pressured to minimize the issues reported. “It was very rare for us to look at a job and not find any defects,” Paredes stated, expressing his discomfort at the thought of flying on the planes he once inspected. The stakes of such revelations are high, as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into an incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight in January found that a door panel was not correctly reinstalled after defect repairs by a Spirit AeroSystems team.
In a recent development, Boeing admitted to falsifying records concerning its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. This disclosure comes amid another federal probe into the company, as per the Wall Street Journal.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the probe, stating, “The FAA has opened an investigation into Boeing after the company voluntarily informed us in April that it may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes.”
These allegations are in a troubling context following the sudden deaths of two other Boeing whistleblowers, John “Mitch” Barnett and Joshua Dean. Both men had raised concerns about the company’s manufacturing defects before their untimely passings.
Boeing’s response has been to emphasize its commitment to safety and whistleblowing protections. The company acknowledges the importance of addressing any safety concerns, and a spokesperson affirmed the presence of a dedicated team for identifying and rectifying defects in Spirit AeroSystems-built fuselages.
The FAA has taken a more stringent approach, imposing quality checks and halting production expansion at Spirit AeroSystems. An ongoing investigation into the Dreamliner 787, where Boeing admitted to some employees bypassing required tests, adds to the concern over Boeing’s commitment to rigorous safety standards.
Relevant articles:
– Whistleblower claims Boeing 737 Max parts with ‘serious defects’ sent to firm , inews, 05/09/2024
– Boeing says it will ‘celebrate’ its latest whistleblower after two suddenly died, Fortune, 05/07/2024
– FAA is investigating Boeing for apparent missed inspections on 787 Dreamliner, WPR, 05/06/2024
– Second Boeing whistleblower dies after raising concerns about 737 MAX, Yahoo News Canada, 05/07/2024
– Boeing’s bad patch explained: How the aero behemoth fell from grace, Interesting Engineering, 05/07/2024